Peck's Corner Shelter, GSNP

I'm on the Rockefeller Monument at US441, Newfound Gap, hoping I could keep a signal and call Greg but no such luck. Crappy cell phone! Gonna get more water (from a faucet!) and pee then push on to Icewater Springs Shelter.

Hey! So while I was getting it together I got some more of the zoo experience I got at the Dome. A bus of old ladies pulled up and two of them quizzed me: you're hiking the AT? Alone? You carry all of that? Where'd you start? How far you going? They couldn't hardly believe it, but thought it was cool. They said (several times), "You're just a bitty thing," when I told them 205 miles in two weeks. And a couple (she sounded local; he was an Aussie) talked to me, too. He sounded wistful. I told him about the retired thru-hikers, and he told me about hiking in New Zealand. He was disappointed that I'm not thru-hiking; think he wanted a photo op.

Dude, I booked—5 miles in 2hrs 15min—on great trail. Looks like today's sojourn won't be so bad.

I pulled into Peck's Corner at 4pm. The shelter, like Mt. Collins, is 1/2 mile off the AT, so that makes it just about 8 miles from Icewater Springs Shelter (which, when I got there, was full of a group of older teens from Dearborn, MI). Two guys were here when I pulled in, Blue Elk and Florida Runner, section hiking in the Smokies. No Brits; they must've pushed on to Tri-Corner. A couple, X and Pixie, just pulled in, and maybe Flatfoot will show up later. Passed Sage and Forest, the patchouli-smelling hippie couple from Oregon, on the trail. First thing I did when I got in after staking my spot was eat! After that, introductions, then the journal. It was raining, but has cleared a bit. I'm planning on going to bed early tonight; all that tea sitting around the shelter yesterday and I didn't sleep for shit!

A beautiful day's hike: good trail, not a lot of steep up and down, and much of it was along knife ridges—sheer drops! Yes!—and great views of ridge after ridge. My favorite section so far. Although X and Pixie are complaining about all the ups and downs. They also say 3 or 4 people are on the trail behind them and are heading here tonight.

Bears seen today: 0.

Next morning: It's 7:15a, and I should be outta here by 7:30a. A quick note: X and Pixie smoke. Oh, the reek! I thought they were smoking this morning but it was just the smell coming off their stuff. Went to get my pack and a guy camping out asked how many were snoring last night? Oh, only 4. He laughed. I told him about the reek problem and he agreed, no good. His name is Lex and he thinks I smell nice! Hiker's perfume, certainly.